So far, some key government figures have publicly announced their intentions – or someone has announced for them.
For Turnbull
Arthur Sinodinos
Julie Bishop
For Abbott
Scott Morrison
Cory Bernardi
Joe Hockey
Andrew Nikolic
Peter Dutton
Kevin Andrews
Matthias Cormann
It should be noted that some of the people publicly supporting Abbott are considered under performing and that other ministers have not spoken to the media. Senior analysts and journalists believe the numbers could be in Turnbull’s favour.
So the week began with May Day protests, Christopher Pyne defending the Commission of Audit and Amanda Vanstone (a former Howard minister) wanting to keep her former MP ‘travel gold pass’ – something the Audit recommended, of which she was a Commissioner.
Then on Monday, there was a protest on Q&A about university cuts – it didn’t thrill many, especially the host, Tony Jones, who ended up having to go to a break – which was in fact a musical performance from the archives – while they booted the protesters out. You can read what I thought about the protest here, as well as seeing what the Executive Producer of Q&A thought here and another view from Clementine Ford here.
The talk about the Budget focused on whether or not a ‘debt levy’ should be implemented to help Australia deal with its debt. There is backlash from backbench MPs and the opposition in politics, while Peter Costello, a former treasurer famous for giving Australia at least ten consecutive budget surpluses, has said it’s bad idea. He’s added his voice to the large number of people who have the experience or the qualifications to talk about this kind of thing (i.e. people in the finance/economics sector, former Treasurers…) who are saying that the ideas the government have may not be the best ones.
The government could also be removing a freeze on the Fuel Excise – a tax on petrol and other fuels – making them more expensive. They haven’t sorted all the details out yet, but it’s believed the excise will go up with inflation. The major concern with this is for farmers. They spend upwards of $100,000 per year on fuel for equipment, and a raise in the Fuel Excise will make it more expensive. Many are hoping that if the Fuel Excise rises, then there will be a raise in the diesel fuel rebate to ease the pressure – otherwise agricultural production may face major issues.
Speaking of major issues, young people on the dole seems to be a big one for the government. Apparently, young people on welfare get money from the government so they can just sit on the couch and do nothing. So young people on the disability allowance (i.e. a medical condition prevents them from finding work) will be independently assessed and if they are deemed fit to work they will be sent out into the work force. Again, the people with the qualifications, experience and understanding of the situation are saying this is a bad idea, saying that they shouldn’t be sending people into a workforce where there may not be any suitable jobs for them. Adam Bandt (Greens MP) has said that this is only about the Budget’s bottom line – which it probably is.
Moving on, the government is closing some detention centres on Australian soil as well as combining all of the border protection and customs organisations into one big one called *drumroll* – The Australian Border Force! Ooh, scary. The Australian Border Force (ABF) is something less controversial than Operation Sovereign Borders (no kidding) and will save money – also a plus. Labor likes this plan. However, it does mean jobs will go, which is a good time to also say that there was the annual mention of sacking public servants – because they all sit around in their offices and do nothing. (I don’t actually believe this, but family members who have worked and do work in the public service make this comment in jest anytime cutting public service jobs is mentioned)
Back to border protection and Operation Sovereign Borders, though. Because this week, there’s been another scandal. According to Indonesian authorities, a vessel was turned around last week (when Tony Abbott was meant to be in Indonesia), and while being turned around by the Australian Navy, three people were put on the boat, one Indonesian and two Albanians. Indonesia wants to know how on earth that happened, and the Greens think the Australian Federal Police should investigate – which they probably should, given I am under the impression that what is alleged to have happened could be illegal under international law.
Finally this week, polling showed the Coalition government is at 38% approval, down 5 points – all of which have gone to the Greens or other parties, and Malcolm Turnbull was on BBC’s HARDtalk.
Tweet of the Week
Some don’t think this is a good look for Mathias Cormann and Joe Hockey – I wonder why…
"I don't know who these bludgers are who say working til 70 would be tough, do you?" http://t.co/v9CB64F2Fb— Bernard Keane (@BernardKeane) May 09, 2014
Things I’ve been Reading/Watching/Listening etc
Calling out Miranda Devine (a conservative columnist) on a somewhat homophobic column – Junkee
This week seemed less politically charged nationally, which is a nice change, but there were state elections in Tasmania and South Australia.
We begin the week with both Tony Abbott and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten being sombre about the missing plane belonging to Malaysia Airlines. The flight, MH370 (the flight number now retired) went missing early (2am Malaysian time) on Saturday morning and hasn’t been seen or heard from since. Tony Abbott talked with his Malaysian counterpart, and Australia has sent some Orion surveillance planes to search for the flight.
SPC Ardmona (you remember them?) have had a good week, signing a deal to give Woolworths supermarkets more fruit, not only in its capacity as an independent company with its own brands, but also as part of Woolworths’ home brand (Woolworths Select). Hopefully someone will think its a good idea to call the fruit products “Woolworth’s Select by SPC” such that the consumer can tell that the fruit is home-grown. SPC has also had a rise in sales due to the coverage of its bid to get some taxpayer money, so they are much happier down in Shepparton.
Meanwhile, the State election campaigns in South Australia and Tasmania have wrapped up, with Tasmania (at last glance) changing from a Labor Government to a Liberal Government. It looks like South Australia might have ended up with a hung parliament, but there are still pre-poll, declaration and postal votes to count, so we won’t know for a while, especially in some marginal seats. I don’t live there, so I don’t know much about it. You can read more in-depth on the ABC Elections website for both Tasmania and South Australia.
Other than that, Qantas CEO Alan Joyce fronted a Senate Estimates Inquiry, and the Western Australian Federal Senate re-election campaign began to gain momentum.
Tweet of the Week
So the ABC is biased you say? Um actually, no it is not. ABC largely meets its professional standards, auditors find http://t.co/S2CfdbFQLL
Well what a week. The first polling results came in for the new government, the relationship with Indonesia improved, and the Coalition is in trouble for backflipping on education policy.
So, on Monday, the first poll of Tony Abbott’s term came out – this is the earliest that a new government has a rating lower than that of the election…not that it’s going to scare the coalition. As long as they don’t have a double dissolution because they can’t pass the carbon tax legislation, they have three years to fix their issues. Like the one with Indonesia, which is improving, as long as the government signs some sort of deal that promises that they won’t spy on Indonesia – I don’t entirely understand it, but at least the relationship is back on track.
In other news, the Coalition is in trouble for what appears to be a backflip on its education policy. They said they would pay for next year – but then re-negotiate with all the states for 2015. Funnily enough, people aren’t impressed with that. It means that Christopher Pyne is battling not only Labor state and territory leaders but also Liberals. They are not happy and they do not want to re-negotiate.
There are still two weeks of Parliamentary sitting in Canberra, so lets see what happens.
Tweet of the Week
Aung San Suu Kyi is in Australia, and she’s been interviewed by a lot of people…such as
Sunday saw Tony Abbott unveil his Paid Parental Leave Scheme. Women will get up to 26 weeks leave at their current wage with super. If you were on the higher end of the income spectrum, you could get seven times the amount you would under Labor. However, it seems that some Liberals, not to mention most of the Nationals, do not like this plan. Joe Hockey said something along the lines of ‘I’m following Tony’s beliefs’ – which makes me think that he doesn’t like it.
Kevin Rudd says it will damage the economy, and people from the country aren’t happy about it either. Not only that, but the Business Council and the ACTU don’t like it either. It appears that the Greens might like it – although they think it needs fine tuning.
There were also some strange preferences going on – it’s a bit tough to explain, so if you want to look at how it works you can look at what Antony Green has to say about it here – he makes way more sense than I ever will.
On Monday, the opinion polls came out again. Despite dropping to a new low poll result for Kevin Rudd, he is still technically ahead. He was told by one old bloke “Them polls are a bunch of wombats!” – you can watch that here.
It’s come to the point in the election where repetition is constant and the trend is key words repeated three times – e.g. “cut, cut, cut”, “build, build, build” – and I feel like yelling, yelling, yelling.
CEOs have made their position on Abbott’s Paid Parental Leave Scheme clear – they don’t like it. Neither do economists – and when the economists think it isn’t a good idea because it may blow out the budget, you should be concerned. The experts have spoken. In related economical news, Joe Hockey didn’t do to well when interviewed about his budget recently.
On Tuesday, Abbott’s Paid Parental Leave was being criticised again. That was the least of his worries though, given that his candidate for the seat of Charlton (Greg Combet’s seat) has pulled out of the running after a website was unearthed. As the ballots are already printed, his name will still be on there, but he will not be campaigning and will essentially give the seat to Labor.
Wednesday brought us some more of Tony Abbott, the gaffe-prone politician.
Wednesday saw him being interviewed on radio. When asked about same-sex marriage, he said his view was that marriage should be between a man and a woman and then, he said this:
“My idea is to build on the strength of our society and I support, by and large, evolutionary change, I’m not someone who wants to see radical change based on the fashion of the moment.”
Yep. He did just say that. Oops. He said that the previous day’s ‘sex appeal’ comment was a ‘dorky dad’ moment and that it was all ok.
In Melbourne, Adam Bandt, the Greens MP for Melbourne and the other candidates for the seat were out canvassing. It appears that if Adam Bandt looses the seat, it will be a battle of roads vs. public transport. If the liberals win the seat, and the election, they have promised an expressway with tunnels – but that means that houses will be bulldozed. If Labor gets the seat, and wins the election, they will improve public transport.
On Thursday, we had some star power in the election. Tony was one of a few Aussie ‘celebrities’ that got to ask Katy Perry a question, and she turned it back on him.
Kevin Rudd on the other hand, announced a 2018 plan for a Special Economic Zone in the Top End, above the Tropic of Capricorn. Meanwhile, in Tasmania, Abbott was announcing his own economic plan. One end of the country or the other it seems…
Peter Slipper is standing as an independent in his seat, and his wife supports him fully. The candidate the Liberals put up is Mal Brough – he’s the one that hosted the dinner involved with the offensive menu.
On Friday, opinion polls put Labor down in most seats. Tony Abbott had a lovely little rant (at least that’s how I perceived it) about asylum seekers while telling us how he was going to deal with them. In a moment of déjà vu for anyone who remembers the 1990s consciously:
“It is our country, and we decide who comes”
I think he did it just to look tough, given the fact that he also said:
“If you can’t stop the boats, you aren’t fit to govern,”
Might I just point out that being an asylum seeker isn’t illegal? Also, if Tony Abbott’s policy is the one we follow, the Temporary Protection Visas that will let them into Australia give them no chance of citizenship or getting a job – either that or working for the dole. I do not think we should be treating them like second class citizens. They are people like you and I.
NSW has just had its Senate Ballot put together and there will be 110 candidates. There are over 40 columns, the sheet of paper will be a metre long and in 6-point font. There will be magnifiers if you need them.
7:00 – ABC News begins with National Version with Leigh Sales – Local News.
Mark Simkin made a Harry Potter quote – “neither can live while the other survives”
In the day’s other political news – Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor are leaving politics – both for personal reasons – though Tony Windsor says he’s not well – that’s a given – this parliament was stressful to the extreme.
7:08pm – Local news bulletins – Seems a bit rushed, and my reception is a little dodgy…Oh well.
7:18pm – back to the National coverage. Turns out Julia announced the ballot and she set conditions. If you want to be leader, you put your name up. You win, you are PM and Labor leader, you lose, you retire from politics at the next election.
Mark Simkin and Chris Uhlmann think Kevin will win. Phones are ringing behind them and they are holding their phones. Interesting fact: If Julia loses and send the letter to the Governor General resigning but doesn’t say that Kevin should take her place – we have a Constitutional Crisis – maybe.
Terrible jokes about Chris Uhlmann being hung up on by a member of Caucus. No news yet, obviously.
Christopher Pyne and Tony Abbott are being pains in the neck. Julia complains about the fact that she’s being attacked internally within the party.
ABC News 24 geoblock has been lifted
7:35 – still waiting. Barrie Cassidy has Gillard supporters texting him – they say it’s against them.
7:40 – Antony Green on how the electorate would vote under Kevin, hypothetical question asked by Neilson poll last week. Some seats in NSW in danger, but we all knew that.
7:45 – Coalition about to hold a party meeting in Canberra. Now getting a look at a Liberal anti-Labor ad
7:49 – Back to Uhlmann and Simkin – still no news. Barrie Cassidy has no news either.
7:50 – On another note, Adam Hills Tonight is meant to be having a Princess Bride themed episode! Hope they sort themselves out soon!
Can the #spill results happen at 8.15 please? Followed by 15 mins of analysis then The Princess Bride ep of @HillsyTonight. That'd be ace.
Once again, I had university assignments…they’re all done now, so we should get back to normal next week.
Well, well, well. The last two weeks have been a bit entertaining, with rants, people falling in pot plants and sandwiches being thrown.
John Madigan had a rant about a plan to give politicians bonuses depending on the number of votes they get. Now, on average an MP in the House of Representatives is representing about 100,000 people. So say John Doe, who is a member of the Funky Dancing runs for the seat of Fish Fingers (I am quite confident that there is not an MP, party or seat by those names in any state) and wins with 60,000 votes. Under this plan, he gets a $1 (1 dollar) for every vote, which is a bonus of $60,000 for him and/or his party. At least, that;’s how I assume it works, and I don’t know how it would work in the Senate, as some Senators are there with 2.3% of their state’s vote – and with preferential voting, it could be a lot more complicated. John Madigan, a Democratic Labour Party (DLP) Senator said that it was an outrage and that this was the reason “people hate politicians’ bloody guts” – Good on you John. Mind you, he’s a Victorian Senator…so I can’t vote for him. 😦
The onslaught of the sandwiches continued when Julia went to a high school in Canberra. She got another sandwich thrown her way. Why was she at a high school? Well in fact, the ACT Chief Minister, Katy Gallagher was signing the ACT up to the Gonski education reforms. Yay. The PM also let a
On a slightly sadder note, news came in this week that former Queensland Premier, Anna Bligh has cancer. It’s non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (Hodgkin’s lymphoma is more radiation sensitive), and by the sounds of it, they caught it early. Hope she gets well soon.
Quotes of the Fortnight
“There’s no money for dental care, there’s no money for single mothers, we tell everybody else to pull their belts in and then we’ve got to have more money to so-called fund democracy…We’ve got a bunch of people that are so disconnected from what the average person on the street’s hopes [and] aspirations are, it’s just un-bloody-believable. What message are we sending to people? The message isn’t good. And we wonder why there’s such a high informal vote. We wonder why people hate politicians’ bloody guts – well it’s on display here for the whole world to see.” – John Madigan sticking it to the man.
“Perhaps he thought I was hungry” – Julia Gillard, answering a press question about the sandwich.
“Watch my tea!” – NSW Labor Senator Doug Cameron
Tweet of the Fortnight
Julia Gillard’s nod to the State of Origin – Gonski Style
If you're a Queenslander, don't let your kid's state of origin decide their future: pic.twitter.com/AN4IlCktUx
— Australian Labor (@AustralianLabor) June 5, 2013
Random Fun of the Fortnight
The antics of News Crews. Abandoning Scott Morrison in favour of Joel Fitzgibbon
They were also falling into pot plants (I couldn’t find footage on YouTube, but I saw it on the news – UPDATE: I did)
and asking stupid questions…all in a day’s work really.
In comparison to last week, there was little drama in federal politics which was nice. This week there were poll results that bashed the Labor Party quite considerably, there was another cabinet reshuffle, and if NSW politics is of any interest to you, the ICAC inquiry continued with members of federal parliament being questioned.
The polls came in this week and the Labor Party is down in the polls, but that’s because the Labor Party had an “appalling week”… fair enough. If you don’t know what that’s about, then you’ve probably been living under a rock. Continuing on from last week’s saga, Julia Gillard reshuffled cabinet. You can find out who she has in her cabinet here. I really don’t care at this point in time who’s where in cabinet. That sounds a little odd I know, but I’m sick of all the crazy. Honestly, could you run the nation just this once?
Ok, I’ve finished ranting. Moving on…
ICAC continued this week, with federal senators and MPs being questioned. From what I gather, Doug Cameron and Luke Foley had some interesting things to say about what was going on. Including the fact that Doug Cameron thought it would be better for Ian Macdonald to retire quietly despite the fact that everyone thought he was doing bad, which he was by the way. In an excellent use of imagery, Luke Foley described Mr Macdonald as “Eddie Obeid’s left testicle”. Lovely. I really needed that image in my head this week (sarcasm hand has been raised) I really, really did.
Well, that’s it for this week…I believe it’s holiday time for parliament, so I’m thinking we might look at some international issues this coming week….
HAPPY EASTER!
Quote of the Week
“I don’t need a poll to tell me that last week the Labor Party had an appalling week” – Julia Gillard, on why she didn’t care about this week’s poll. Good on her.
Tweet of the Week
This comes from an Australian comedian, and his take on what’s going on in Korea right now…
North Korea in a state of war. South Korea on high alert. The cast of MASH have called their agents. This is serious.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you the next chapter in the gripping leadership spill saga that’s driving Australia up the wall….
Julia’s fifth front bench was announced yesterday, and you can find out who’s now in Cabinet here.
Also, today the polling numbers for Labor are down, surprise, surprise. So, what better time to play the game that has become a pastime in the world of politics…
Julia’s supporters, and Senior Cabinet Ministers are blaming Kevin’s supporters, like Simon Crean. Julia says it was the appalling week the party had last week. Either way, the blame game has been played.
It was also played the other day, when Simon Crean told 2GB (a radio station in Sydney), that Kevin had texted him just before he went to the media and Julia, telling him he didn’t want the spill to go ahead on Thursday. But Crean says he didn’t read it until after he’d talked to media. Oh dear. Is it true? I don’t know. Was Kevin planning a coup, but then decided forced adoption apology day was not the day to do it? I have absolutely no idea. I’m not a politician, and I don’t plan to be.
Oh well, at least The Blame Game can be fun sometimes.
On another note, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) has started something called Vote Compass.
You can fill in the form telling them what you want to hear about during the election campaign. There is more information, and a link to the survey here. I think you should do it, if only because I’m hoping we might actually get some information on what everyone’s policies are for once.
Kara L 